Cardiac Monitor Phone App
Every minute counts when it comes to treating a cardiac event — it can mean the difference between life and death. PulsePoint connects people who are trained in CPR with people nearby who are experiencing a cardiac emergency. It’ll also tell a citizen responder where to find the closest automated external defibrillator for public use. Users can view the status of first responders to see when an ambulance will arrive to help.
Without the pro upgrade, this app doesn't have too many perks — you can't even export data. But Cardio Buddy's graphing feature, which shows weekly and monthly averages, lows and highs, is one of the easiest to navigate of all the apps we tested.
Likewise, exercisers may want to measure their heart rate to see if they're working hard enough. A good target is 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate, according to the AHA. Your maximum heart rate is approximately 220 minus your age.
For a low price tag, MotionX 24/7 offers nice functionality on all three fronts. The heart rate monitor feature is simple to use and offers nice stats, including weekly and monthly averages, lows and highs. The app records the time and date of each measurement, but doesn't offer options for tagging entries with user activities at the time. As a result, this app is probably best for people interested in tracking a specific heart rate measurement, such as their resting heart rate, or heart rate during exercise.
Because they are fairly simple, heart rate monitors are sometimes integrated into multipurpose apps. These apps — often workout trackers — have their own pros and cons. But one multipurpose option we like is MotionX 24/7 ($0.99 iOS). This app is part pedometer, part sleep tracker and part heart rate monitor.
This app is a good reference if you’ve recently been diagnosed with a heart condition and you want to learn more about it. Get access to several blogs and care tips written by experts. The app’s clean user interface makes it easy to read articles and view graphics explaining common heart conditions.
iBP makes it easy to understand your blood pressure readings. The app uses color icons to represent normal or high values with interactive graphs. View your numbers by weeks, months, or years. Add readings manually or import information from the Apple Health app.
Blood Pressure Monitor turns your phone into a home health monitor. Use the app to input information like weight, blood pressure, and any medications you’ve taken. The graphs and charts it creates can help you track and understand changes in your blood pressure readings. Find out how different medications impact your blood pressure and export information to share with your healthcare team.
Like Heart Rate, Cardiio ($0.99 iOS) has options to measure your heart rate from your finger, via the back camera, or from your face, via the front camera. This app keeps 30 days of records, exportable in a CSV file. It also includes a cute cartoon cardio workout, consisting of seven minutes of exercises meant to get your heart pumping. The exercises aren't complicated (they include jumping jacks, wall sits and lunges), but they're a nice little bonus on an otherwise simple app. One fun aspect of Cardiio is that it offers you comparisons for where your heart rate falls compared to, say, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps' resting heart rate, or the average resting heart rate of people living on the island nation Mauritius. In-app purchases will get you age/gender comparisons, a target heart rate zone calculator and other add-ons.